Environmental conditioning of skeletal anomalies typology and frequency in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L., 1758) juveniles.

In this paper, 981 reared juveniles of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) were analysed, 721 of which were from a commercial hatchery located in Northern Italy (Venice, Italy) and 260 from the Hellenic Center for Marine Research (Crete, Greece). These individuals were from 4 different egg batches, for a total of 10 different lots. Each egg batch was split into two lots after hatching, and reared with two different methodologies: intensive and semi-intensive. All fish were subjected to processing for skeletal anomaly and meristic count analysis. The aims involved: (1) quantitatively and qualitatively analyzing whether differences in skeletal elements arise between siblings and, if so, what they are; (2) investigating if any skeletal bone tissue/ossification is specifically affected by changing environmental rearing conditions; and (3) contributing to the identification of the best practices for gilthead seabream larval rearing in order to lower the deformity rates, without selections. The results obtained in this study highlighted that: i) in all the semi-intensive lots, the bones having intramembranous ossification showed a consistently lower incidence of anomalies; ii) the same clear pattern was not observed in the skeletal elements whose ossification process requires a cartilaginous precursor. It is thus possible to ameliorate the morphological quality (by reducing the incidence of severe skeletal anomalies and the variability in meristic counts of dermal bones) of reared seabream juveniles by lowering the stocking densities (maximum 16 larvae/L) and increasing the volume of the hatchery rearing tanks (minimum 40 m(3)). Feeding larvae with a wide variety of live (wild) preys seems further to improve juvenile skeletal quality. Additionally, analysis of the morphological quality of juveniles reared under two different semi-intensive conditions, Mesocosm and Large Volumes, highlighted a somewhat greater capacity of Large Volumes to significantly augment the gap with siblings reared in intensive (conventional) modality.

Development of a rapid soil water content detection technique using active infrared thermal methods for in-field applications.

The aim of this study was to investigate the suitability of active infrared thermography and thermometry in combination with multivariate statistical partial least squares analysis as rapid soil water content detection techniques both in the laboratory and the field. Such techniques allow fast soil water content measurements helpful in both agricultural and environmental fields. These techniques, based on the theory of heat dissipation, were tested by directly measuring temperature dynamic variation of samples after heating. For the assessment of temperature dynamic variations data were collected during three intervals (3, 6 and 10 s). To account for the presence of specific heats differences between water and soil, the analyses were regulated using slopes to linearly describe their trends. For all analyses, the best model was achieved for a 10 s slope. Three different approaches were considered, two in the laboratory and one in the field. The first laboratory-based one was centred on active infrared thermography, considered measurement of temperature variation as independent variable and reported r = 0.74. The second laboratory-based one was focused on active infrared thermometry, added irradiation as independent variable and reported r = 0.76. The in-field experiment was performed by active infrared thermometry, heating bare soil by solar irradiance after exposure due to primary tillage. Some meteorological parameters were inserted as independent variables in the prediction model, which presented r = 0.61. In order to obtain more general and wide estimations in-field a Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis on three classes of percentage of soil water content was performed obtaining a high correct classification in the test (88.89%). The prediction error values were lower in the field with respect to laboratory analyses. Both techniques could be used in conjunction with a Geographic Information System for obtaining detailed information on soil heterogeneity.